On March 23rd, 2023, it was announced that Expedia and Kayay have been given early access to a CHATGPT plugin. According the news release, OpenAI will uses plugins to “study their real-world use, impact, and safety and alignment challenges” and explore ChatGPT’s use cases.

The new plugins will allow travellers to interact with CHATGPT on their travel plans and get real time information such as prices from Expedia and Kayak.Travelers are able to use the plugin to plan all aspects of a trip: flights, hotels, car rentals and activities. Expedia share a demo on how the pluging operates.

Watch ZaNiheza’s Founder and CEO full analysis on the impact that the new CHATGPT plugin will have on tourism in Africa

In an email to Skift, Expedia said that it’s always experimenting with ways different types of AI and machine learning can enhance the travel experience for users. The chief technology officers of Expedia and Booking made similar comments during calls earlier this month. 

“Large language models like ChatGPT give travelers another way to start planning a trip and we can help bring that dream trip to life — how to get there by air or car, where to stay that’s available and right for their budget or personal preferences, and what to see and do that fits with a suggested itinerary,” Expedia said in an email.

We are witnessing the birth of a technology that may change how travellers plan and book for flights, tours and activities.

Our take is that tourism in Africa is quite ready for generative AI. We need to have clean and orginized data for destinations first.